Dutch striker Roy Makaay's first Bundesliga goal was spoiled Saturday by a VfL Wolfsburg 3-2 comeback win against an injury ridden Bayern Munich.
Makaay, brought in from La Coruna to help the Bayern win the Champions League, finally broke his drought in his fourth German match by volleying home a Mehmet Scholl cross in the 59th minute.
That put Bayern up 2-1 and the Dutchman appeared destined to be the game's hero, but Wolfsburg took advantage of some defensive mix-ups to charge back on goals by Fernando Baiano and Diego Klimowicz.
PHOTO: AFP
"I would have preferred to have won the match today without a goal by Roy Makaay, but it was nice that he finally had his breakthrough," Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said.
Leverkusen also moved top of the table with a 1-0 victory against Hamburg, helped by Dortmund's 2-1 toppling of former front-runner Werder Bremen 2-1 in front of a Bundesliga record crowd of 83,000.
Stuttgart moved into second, drawing 0-0 against Schalke, a result which extended the Champions League team run to five matches without yielding a goal to open the season. That gave 'keeper Timo Hildebrand a league record.
Bayern blamed its loss on the injuries sustained by stars at international matches last week, a long list that starts with Michael Ballack and Sebastian Deisler. Ze Roberto, back from Brazil Friday, joined them by hobbling off the field during the match.
"You could see our defenders were tired from all those caps. We will have to do something before we face Celtic Glasgow next week," said Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge of the team's Champions League match next week.
Bayern, which also got a goal from 18-year-old Bastian Schweinsteiger, fumbled a cross on the gamewinner and Klimowicz strode between the confused defenders and rifled his attempt under the crossbar.
Brazilian forward Fernando Baiano had a sensational debut for Wolfsburg, scoring in the 11th and 84th minute against the German champions, who fell to fourth.
In other matches, Hannover edged Hertha Berlin 3-2, 1860 Munich beat Cologne 2-1 and Bochum won at Rostock 2-0.
Dortmund hosted Bremen while trying to overcome the stinging recent Champions League exit against FC Brugge and the loss of star forward Marcio Amoroso, who tore a ligament two days ago.
But this time luck was on Dortmund's side, as Bremen outplayed Matthias Sammer's side for most of the match in front of the record crowd at recently expanded Westfalenstadion.
In the 69th minute, Dortmund's Ewerthon hit the crossbar with his attempt, Bremen's Frank Baumann kicked the ricochet to teammate Valerien Ismael and the Frenchman headed in an own goal, swinging the outcome.
"We didn't play great football, but we were just trying to hold our own after all our setbacks," Sammer said. "But we were a little lucky."
Ewerthon, Amoroso's replacement, scored in the 17th minute before Krisztian Lisztes leveled on a deflected shot in the 41st.
Leverkusen gained top of the table on Brazilian defender Juan's 28th minute header, but without impressing against struggling Hamburg, although the three points ran the frontrunner's record to 4-1-0 with a 11-3 goal difference.
"If I closed both my eyes I could be satisfied with the match," Leverkusen coach Klaus Augenthaler said of beating a side that hasn't claimed an away match for 10 months.
Germany forward Fredi Bobic, the hero of his country's win against Iceland Wednesday, finally ended Hertha Berlin's scoring drought at a club record 374 minutes.
Bobic scored in the 14th and 21st minute, but Hannover rang up two goals after the break to drop the once-touted club to 15th in the 18 team league.
Bobic also said his club's second half collapse could be blamed on tired internationals coming back from caps.
"I don't know if that was it, but we should have fought harder," he said. "We're slowly putting our backs to the wall."
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